Film Review: Freddy vs. Jason (2003)

Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees return to terrorize the teenage population. Except this time, they’re out to get each other, too.

REVIEW:

I remember the idea sounding a bit like a “cinematic con” to gather a few franchise ticket sales. However I was curious like the rest of us and threw dough some dough for P-corn and the film to see how the 2 Mega icons battled it out. It was in some ways a groundbreaking achievement….2 horror icons doing battle..and they even got Englund to play his role. The idea itself was not new (with comics springing forth from the hands of artists and fan boyz) however…. could it all work on screen without being …”silly”??

I remember quite well that the release was met with varied response. Their of course were the purists who claimed “this” and spouted “that”…but I still knew how to have a good time with it and let it roll. Years later as I come back to write the review, I can say I was an instant fan on this particular release. In fact more so than many of the Friday the 13th AND Nightmare releases.

Maybe the franchises had simply tired themselves to being too predicable leaving room for a hybrid to add that “right” amount of collaboration. In short…I simply loved this event. One that would of course lead to “others” like “Aliens VS Predator”. But we’ll save those for other reviews as they require their own micro space. Getting on to the entertainment, we have 2 entities who each possess a certain amount of supernatural claim. Freddy of course is able to leap into nightmares and sometimes real life..and of course Jason simply never dies. 2 horror icons that never die….could there actually be a battle, or even a winner??

To get this one out of the way, while we did see Freddy Krueger played by his “only” embodiment “Robert Englund…we did however have Ken Kirzinger playing Jason Voorhees which would have been more appropriate with original player, Kane Hodder. I suppose the studios figured that “any” actor could wear a mask and make do. Well Kirzinger did a fine job, however there is still some authenticity missing that’s important to the genre.

The tie-in? Not a bad one at that….Freddy was feeling neglected seeing that his power comes from others “believing” he exists. As the town of Springfield made every effort to hide the legend of Elm Street and extinguish Krueger’s name, so did the reality of him ever existing. This worked for quite some time, however Freddy who was not content just sitting in Hell, decided that he needed a scape goat to reactivate the his legend. Jason Voohrees, who was an unkillable machine himself seemed like the perfect conduit for this purpose. The idea? Have Jason do what he likes best in Springfield (Killing), thus bringing suspicion that “Freddy is back!”. As the kills continue, so does the rumors that Krueger has returned to punish the citizens of Springfield. This idea worked great and made alot of sense.

So, here comes the conflict…..Freddy wants to do all the killing. With Jason in town, Freddy is being overshadowed and not getting his fulfillment. A long story short, the young teens on the town are merely disposable in this case as we await the show down between 2 passionate killers. The fight is rather exciting and unique. It’s hell of fun to watch and presents a new experience not unlike the AVP movies. Directed by Ronny Yu, “Freddy vs. Jason” can’t withstand its campiness, but at the same time fans of both franchises really get the best of both worlds. The killing is occurring during sleep time AND awake time…cool eh? This one falls into the idea of getting what you signed up for, 2 horror icons fighting. I for one, love this kind of stuff…you should too!